We asked...you answered!

The last issue of our newsletter carried the story of a group of black and white transfer china pieces in which the potter used images created by W.H. Bartlett.   Our records were unclear as to the name of the donor and so we posed the question to you, our readers, to help us solve the mystery. 

The good news is that three people responded…..and each had the same idea of whom the donor might have been.  Each one suggested Doris Mavis.  Now, we can find no record of Doris having been a volunteer at the museum, but obviously, in 1984, something prompted her to generously donate these fine pieces.

One caller identified Doris Mavis as having lived in the house at the corner of Elm and Mulberry Streets in Granville before moving to Kendal where she passed away in 2018.  The caller thought Doris had been a member of the Granville Garden Club (maybe she volunteered in the garden at the museum). 

Another reader says that Doris Mavis was married to Stephen Mavis (a Colonel  in the military) and was a sorority sister of one of our former docents (Kappa Alpha Theta), “an interesting and nice person.”  A third reader suggests the same information. 

Our records have been improved. Thank you to all who read and who took the time to help solve this mystery!

From the Collection

Tucked inside of one of these ornate vases was a note that read:

“Mantle Vases—Pair—the gorgeous vases that were Aunt Lottie’s (Charlotte Spelman) always stood on a mantle piece—never on moveable furniture—accounts for their preservation for so long a time.  They are very valuable.”  The note is signed, “EDC” (Emily Downer Cole), 140 years old Family Heirloom, not to be sold.”

In 1993, Marvanelle Downer Nelson, the great-great niece of Charlotte “Aunt Lottie” Spelman, brought the pair of vases back to Granville and they now grace the mantle in the Ladies’ parlor at the Robbins Hunter Museum.  They flank a clock that also belonged to the Downer family.

The vases are examples of “Old Paris” or “Vieux Paris” porcelain, a form that is highly prized by collectors around the world.  An incredible quantity and variety of forms were manufactured in and around the city of Paris in the nineteenth century, primarily before 1870.  As with most Old Paris porcelain, these vases are not marked.  They are beautifully decorated with applied poppies and leaves, cobalt, gilt, and painted flowers.  Also, as was the custom, each bears a similar, but slightly different image of flowers.

If Charlotte were here, I would like to ask her how she came by the vases?  Did someone bring them as a gift? Perhaps a suitor? Or did she purchase them locally?  The more one learns, the more questions one has!

From the Director

SUMMER

The song says, “Summer time and the living is easy.”  In the museum world, activity changes too.  School groups have come and gone, as have the Denison students.  Now the doors open to visitors who, for the most part, are on holiday, visiting the picturesque “New England” Village set in the Midwest.  Part of their relaxation is visiting historic homes, or studying early material culture, or renewing their spirits in a garden.  Robbins Hunter Museum is ready to meet those wishes and a whole lot more!

Daily, our docents are prepared to talk about the significance of the Greek revival architecture of the Avery-Downer House, its collection of 19th century furniture and art, and to tell the stories of those who lived here. Docents have prepared the house for its summer interpretation: a croquet set by the door in the Ladies’ Parlor, netting covering the gold leaf mirror to protect from fly specks, and a slipcover over the velvet upholstery, all give an impression of the family’s day-to-day life during summer months.  As a bonus, the Victoria Woodhull Clock Tower entertains hourly and her story is heard (mostly for the first time) by surprised audiences.  Our special exhibit, “Ordinary & Extraordinary: Victorian Undergarments 1860-1880,” that shows the wardrobe of a typical Granville woman, continues through the end of the year.

This summer marks our inaugural concert season in the Dale and Tina Knobel Folly.  On the second Sunday of each month, professional musicians will perform at 4 p.m.  On June 9, UCelli, a group of four virtuoso  opened the season to an appreciative audience. The series continues with Bel Aurora featuring the Newark-Granville Symphony string quintet on July 14 and a Brass Extravaganza with NGSO brass quintet on August 11.  All performances are FREE, thanks to support from the Granville Community Foundation.  They will be followed by a reception in the museum.  To make a reservation for the reception, go to www.robbinshunter.org. or call 740-587-0430.

So make a visit to the Robbins Hunter Museum part of your “summer time” plans.  You will be glad you did!

From the Collection

Mystery abounds at the Robbins Hunter Museum.  It seems that for every question we answer, three more arise.  This month’s question pertains to who really donated several pieces of a rare black and white transfer English pottery.

William Cullen Bryant wrote in 1830, ”There is in our scenery enough of the lovely, the majestic, the romantic, to entitle it to be ranked with that of any other country in the world….” And yet, he continued, “It would be easier to find a series of good scenes of China or Southern India than of the United States.”

Five years later, an English topographical artist, William Henry Bartlett, sailed for America with the express purpose of making “lively impression of actual sights.”  Between 1835 and 1852, he made four excursions to the US to draw the buildings, towns, and scenery of the northeastern states.  He was accompanied by on his first adventure by Nathaniel Parker Willis, an American journalist who wrote the text for the first comprehensive picture book of authentic American scenes.  That book was American Scenery, or Land, Lake, and River Illustrations of Trans Atlantic Nature.  The book was published by George Virtue, who employed Bartlett as an artist, author, and editor for two decades.  It was quickly translated and published in French and German editions.

W. H. Bartlett self portrait 1836

This book, along with its companion Canadian Scenery, remain our best picture books of the landscape scene of America almost two hundred years ago.  Bartlett made his images directly from nature and reproduced each with almost photographic accuracy.

These drawings were not only reproduced on paper. The potters of England promptly seized on the opportunity to decorate their wares with views of the Hudson River and drawings of buildings and towns.  Some of the potteries to produce such wares include J. Ridgway; William Ridgway; William Ridgway & Son; Thomas Godwin; Charles Meigh; and Mellor, Venables & Co.

In 1984, the Robbins Hunter Museum received a generous donation of several pieces decorated with black and white transfer patterns including “Columbia Bridge on the Susquehanna,” “Undercliff near Cold Spring,” and “View from Ruggles House, Newburgh, Hudson River.”

“Columbia Bridge on the Susquehanna” on a platter.

“Undercliff near Cold Spring” on a chocolate pot.

“View from Ruggles House, Newburgh, Hudson River” on a teapot.

We are delighted to hold these exquisite early picturesque renderings on china in our collection.  Our records are incomplete in that the donor is only identified as “Mavis”  with a donation date of May 19, 1984.  If any of our readers might know who this  Mavis is, please contact annlowder@robbinshunter.org.   

A souvenir for your collection

We are excited to offer for the first time, a keepsake ornament that depicts the Avery-Downer House, home to Robbins Hunter Museum. As captured by Gary Chisolm in the photo to the left, it is crafted in brass and features the house with its fine details etched in the metal. It is framed with a Greek key motif representing the iron fence fronting the Jill Griesse Historic Garden. 

Hand crafted in heart of America, the house is the first in a collection celebrating the museums extraordinary architectural features. Proceeds from sales of the ornament benefit the programs at the Robbins Hunter Museum.

The ornament comes packaged with a brief history of the house. These make an excellent corporate gift or addition to your personal collection of Granville related memorabilia. They are offered for sale in Just Write, adjacent to the museum. Or click HERE to purchase online.

From the Director

An Investment in the Village of Granville

 Because of our generous friends and donors like you, the Robbins Hunter Museum has been able to build a welcoming, entertaining, and educational experience for visitors and residents to the Village of Granville. 

·       “Phoenix Rising,” a series of three exciting round tables presented in partnership with Denison University, was the highlight of the 2018 season.  Beginning in February, experts from around the nation gathered for civil discourse regarding issues that Victoria Woodhull dared to voice in the 19th century and that continue to be relevant today.

·       Looking ahead, discussions will build on the events of 2018 and broaden into national level speakers, reaching a crescendo in 2020.  Your support will ensure lively discussion with well-known experts, beginning with Mary Frances Berry on January 28, 2019.

·       Victoria Woodhull, Continue the Legacy: Join the Conversation,  promotes the Phoenix Rising roundtables as well as women’s disenfranchisement  and features a replica dress and famous quotations by and about Woodhull.

·       Our current exhibit, “Ordinary & Extraordinary,” would have raised eyebrows in earlier times as it features “unmentionables,” underwear worn by 19th century Granville ladies.  The exhibit ties in beautifully with the new Woodhull exhibit by illustrating some of the disadvantages women faced in their expected daily wardrobe. Curated by Elizabeth Miller, Parsons School of Design, the well-researched exhibit includes letters and other primary documents.  It will remain through December, 2019.

·       A new website www.woodhullandclaflin.org features primary resources for students and scholars to learn first hand the facts of Woodhull’s life.

·       Visitors refresh and reflect in the Jill Griesse Historic Garden, now an official American Daffodil Society display garden.  Coming on April 27:  Granville Garden Tour featuring Spring gardens.

As we look ahead to our 38th season, we anticipate an exciting future that will include programs for school children as well as their parents and grandparents.  With your help, the Robbins Hunter Museum and  Jill Griesse Historic Garden will continue to be a vibrant part of the Heart of the Village. 

Stop in to see us Wednesday-Saturday from 1-4PM.  We will be open through December 28.

From the Collection

Robbins Hunter, Jr., was a collector of many things:  portraits, clocks, card tables, musical instruments, and buildings!  As a young man, growing up in Newark, he developed a fondness for fine things from the nineteenth century, especially those from Licking County. 

He was instrumental in seeing to it that many of Newark’s fine old buildings were saved from the wrecking ball including Sherwood-Davidson House and the Buckingham House. He also was proud of saving the A.J. Smith Banking House which once sat on the square in Newark.  Hunter moved the building to Granville and put in on property across from the Granville Golf Course. 

When he purchased the Avery-Downer house, he moved the little bank once again to 221 East Broadway, where it sits today.  It now serves as home to Alfie’s, a popular lunch spot in the heart of the Village.

The following story, written by Robbins Hunter, Jr., himself, was published in the January, 1947 issue of The American Antiques Journal.

One of the oldest bank buildings in Ohio is a two-room structure built about 1845 in Newark, Ohio.  At one time this little bank had deposits reaching $400,000.  It ceased to function as a bank in 1851 and in 1943 was moved to Granville, where it can be seen today across the road from the Granville Inn Golf Course, and is now the property of the writer.  There are two rooms in the bank with eleven foot ceilings.  The original cupboard where the bank records were kept still stands beside the old fireplace.  The front door is faced with tin and studded with hundreds of nails to give added strength.  The old brass chandelier shown in the picture, while not an original feature of the building is of the same period.  Its four oil lamps have been wired for electricity, and about eighty prisms hang from its brass ornaments.  The windows at one time had forged iron bars across them to keep out early bank robbers.  The tile around the fireplace is English and of very fine design.  The building, while small, has real dignity because of its perfect proportions, the design of the front door being especially fine.  But what a contrast the little building is to our modern banks with all their marble and brass.

From the Director

Volunteers are the heart and soul of the Robbins Hunter Museum and Gardens

There are so many ways to participate as a volunteer at the Robbins Hunter Museum and Gardens.  No matter your interests or your time constraints, I am certain that you have something to offer that will benefit both the museum and you personally.

• Volunteer Docents are the hosts and hostesses of the Avery-Downer House, greeting guests when they knock at the front door. Their welcome is followed by a tour, which invariably entertains and educates the visitors. Our docent team has become a close group of friends enjoying a special field trip and brown bag lunches throughout the year.

• Committee positions include collections, programs, finance, and building and grounds. Members of the community, who have special interest in serving on one of these committees with a board member as chair, bring knowledge and expertise far beyond what the Robbins Hunter Museum budget allows and each of the committee members can take great pride in the success of these projects.

• Interns from our local college campuses are welcomed. RHM can provide a learning laboratory for young people who may be interested in entering the museum field. At the same time, they help the museum move forward projects for which we are not staffed.

• Odd jobs are always waiting to be completed. Whether polishing silver or stuffing envelopes for special mailing, volunteers are vital to keeping up with everyday tasks.

Are you intrigued?  Do you see yourself in one of the above roles?  I would welcome an email or phone call to answer your questions.

From the Director...

As 2017 comes to a close, there is cause for reflection about this amazing year in the life of the Robbins Hunter Museum.

Much of the winter was spent restoring the upstairs offices of the Avery-Downer House. As we celebrated the houses’ 175th birthday this year, the walls and floors received new finishes for the first time since the 1930’s. In April, the popular Mark Twain exhibit opened with the marvelous collection of our board member, Tom Wortham, noted Twain Scholar. The exhibit attracted people from all over the state and enjoyed a full-page feature in the Columbus Dispatch.  Additionally, Wortham’s lectures saw a full house of avid learners who enthusiastically applauded his lessons and either read again or for the first time, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

In June, who can forget the very successful Granville Garden Tour and “It’s All Greek to Me” flower show?  Five generous garden owners opened their property for the benefit of the museum.  The flower show, hosted by the Little Garden Club of Columbus was attended by more than 550 people and was commended by the Garden Club of America.

October brought Scarecrows, this time literary figures in reference to Mark Twain.  A Halloween exhibit on the second floor amazed young and old alike. For the first time, Robbins Hunter Museum was a beneficiary of the Big Give, a central Ohio fundraising campaign.  We were pleased to realize a total of $8,584.

Then an army of volunteers moved in to install Experience the Magic. Record crowds and viewing the decorations for Christmas as well as the newly added Hanukkah display on loan from a local family.  A generous grant from the Granville Community Foundation supports the exterior light display.  The Granville Recreation Commission partners with us to mount the Gingerbread House display and the Granville Chamber of Commerce makes sure that kiddies have the opportunity to visit with St. Nick and Mrs. Claus during the Candlelight Walking Tour.

We look forward to 2018 and to the return of some of our more popular programs.  When spring arrives, daffodils will be spilling over the walls. New garden programming as well as an exhibition of the Oese and Hubert Robinson Underwear Collection is in the works. Stay tuned…..

From the Director...

A New Look for an Old Space

The offices at Robbins Hunter Museum have recently undergone a complete renovation.  Floors have been sanded and finished, walls patched and painted, and abundant lighting installed.  Furniture has been repaired and restored and pictures brought out of storage for display.

This bookcase chest, made in Newark, c. 1850, according to Robbins Hunter, Jr.,was loaned to the first exhibition of midwestern furniture in 1964. The exhibit, “The Arts and Crafts of the Old Northwest Territory: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota,” was mounted at Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn. The piece is pictured in The Magazine Antiques’ article on the exhibit.

When Sylvester Spelman died in 1873, he left his second wife Mary and unmarried daughter Charlotte alone in the large home. This prompted daughter Martha and her husband Edward M. Downer to move from their home on Elm Street with their four children.  They would have filled the second floor rooms with laughter, tears, toys, games, and books.  One can imagine.

The Downers sold the home in 1903 to Denison’s Phi Gamma Delta fraternity, and for the next 50 years,  the second floor occupants and caregivers were young men ages 18-22 who lived, studied, played, and slept here.  Once Denison required fraternities to return to campus, Robbins Hunter, Jr. bought the house which he had long admired for its outstanding Greek Revival architecture.  He lived on the first floor, using the second floor rooms to store his massive collection of antiques.  Needless to say, there was not a lot of decorating on the second floor during the twentieth century. 

The black and gold leaf signs were used to advertise the law office of Robbins Hunter, Sr. and his father Samuel Hunter, in Newark, both lawyers and judges.

Two years ago, board member Gill Wright Miller, designed a renovation to enlarge the second floor bedroom to be used for exhibition space. During the beginning of 2017, the board authorized the renovation of the two bedrooms used as offices by the Director and the Office Administrator.  Floors that had not been refinished since the 19th century were sanded, revealing beautiful old hardwood.  Plaster walls had cracks and peeling paint which were patched and painted.  A soft tan color was chosen for the walls with the palest of blue to add interest to the ceiling.  Recessed can lights brighten the spaces and create a pleasing and comfortable work environment.  Special pieces from the collection have been brought out of storage, dusted off, restored when needed, and are proudly decorating the rooms.

Special thanks to Marge King and Jack Burris for volunteering their decorating expertise, and to the board of trustees, especially Kevin Kerr, having the foresight for prioritizing this improvement to our facilities.

According to Robbins Hunter, Jr., this walnut desk, c. 1840, was used by Luke Warner in his office on the Ohio Canal in Newark. Pictured above the desk are Luke and his wife Sarah, c. 1860.

Don Gunnerson, Board Member Emeritus

Sadly, Don Gunnerson, board member emeritus, Robbins Hunter Museum in the Avery-Downer House, passed away on October 21. Don put his architectural skills and artistic sense to work as he oversaw the restoration of the Octagon Room.  Don spent countless hours working with contractors to stabilize Robbins Hunter’s favorite room.  As a finishing touch, Gunnerson used old photos to size the replacement “quatrefoil” that tops the domed roof.  Don was a devoted friend of the museum. We will miss him. 

Read his full obituary HERE

From the collection...

Mirrors seemed to captivate Robbins Hunter as his collection has many.  One of the favorites at the museum today is this Federal example made c. 1820.  Called a tabernacle mirror by some, by others a pier mirror, its wooden frame is covered with gesso and gilded.  The top panel is eglomise, or reverse painted on glass, a technique attributed to China.  The actual mirror frame would have been made somewhere on the East Coast of America.           

The mirror tells the story of a naval battle between an American and a British naval battle. No original labels, however, confirm the precise ship or battle.  We know that Granville sent a company of men to fight at Lake Erie.  Among them was George Avery, older brother of Alfred (who built the Avery-Downer House).  Alfred, only 15 at the time, began a career as a drover of pigs and other livestock to sell to the troops. Probably because of Granville’s and the Avery family’s involvement in the War of 1812, we have interpreted the scene as Commodore Perry’s Victory at Lake Erie. 

On September 10, 1813, an American fleet commanded by Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry defeated the British fleet in Lake Erie, just off Put-in-Bay.  It was much celebrated as the victory put Americans in control of Lake Erie and much of the Northwest Territory.  It marked the first time an entire British fleet was captured.

At daybreak on that long ago morning, Perry’s lookout sighted the British fleet of six vessels.  They were under the command of Captain Robert H. Barclay.  As the battle began, the wind, in front of Perry’s fleet of nine vessels, shifted to their backs and made it easier to approach the enemy. Perry’s plan was for his two ships, the Lawrence and the Niagara, to engage the two largest British ships, the Detroit and the Queen Charlotte.  His smaller gunboats would take on the smaller British ships.

At noon, the battle began.  Perry, aboard the Lawrence, engaged the enemy.  The ship was badly damaged to the point of being disabled.  Four of every five men aboard were either killed or injured, but Perry escaped and transferred to the Niagara which had remained out of range of the enemy guns.  With the crew of the Niagara, he challenged both the Queen Charlotte and the Detroit.

Captain Barclay was severely wounded. The riggings of the two British ships became entangled.  Perry raked the ships with his heavy guns until the British lowered their flag in surrender. Americans suffered 27 killed and 96 wounded.  British casualties included 41 killed and 92 wounded. Soon after the battle, Perry wrote his famous note to the US commander in the region, William Henry Harrison, “We have met the enemy and they are ours:  two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop.”

Stop by for a tour of the Avery- Downer House to learn more stories about the people who lived here and interesting items in the collection.

From the Director...

Victoria Woodhull, born and reared in Licking County, was an advocate of social reform that continues to be relevant today.  When Robbins Hunter constructed a clock tower dedicated to Woodhull on the side of the Avery-Downer house in Granville, his intention was to memorialize her as his tribute to the nation’s bicentennial.  During the 2016 election, the museum mounted a highly successful exhibit, “Celebrating Victoria,” accompanied by a series of speakers. We concluded that public interest in her 1872 Presidential bid in the midst of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign was long deserved. However, her story reaches far beyond presidential politics to lessons of American values, humanitarian concerns and sheer fortitude in the face of adversity and their relevance on contemporary society.

The Robbins Hunter Museum is pleased to announce that it is the recipient of a planning grant from the Ohio Humanities Council to develop a three-year project that will focus on the multi-dimensionality of her legacy and her ability to drive social change.  We plan to host round-table discussions three times per year for three years, each time identifying one of the many areas of interest that Victoria Woodhull advocated that continue to be relevant in the 21st century.  Scholars, professionals, and knowledgeable lay individuals will be invited to exchange ideas concerning and speaking to the identified themes from their discipline’s perspective.  The main point of the discussions is to provide a platform to advance conversations stimulated by her intellectual work and to bring better recognition and understanding of Woodhull and her modern relevance to the broader public.

Beginning in 2018, we will explore her history, her role in bringing a woman’s voice to journalism, and her employment of spiritualism for oratory and rhetoric.  The second year will bring discussions of humanitarian issues, child welfare and medicine, as well as abolition.   The final year, 2020, will focus on women as leaders in business and finance, gender issues, and finally politics and suffrage.

The goal in planning this larger project is simply to bring Victoria Woodhull’s uniquely significant life back into the public’s focus, not just as a Presidential candidate but as a remarkable, laudable, and genuinely American woman whose foresight was far ahead of her time.

From the collection...

The Robbins Hunter Museum proudly displays a pair of card tables from one of the finest cabinet shops in the country, that of Samuel McIntire of Salem, Massachusetts. McIntire, 1757-1811, was born in Salem and began as a woodcarver who developed into an architect.  He built houses for prominent citizens such as Elias Hasket Derby, America’s first millionaire, and furnished them with some of his own furniture creations and sculpture.  In 2011, a carved mahogany side chair made for Derby and attributed to McIntire brought $662,500 at auction, setting a world record for Federal furniture. 

Carved flower and foliage, a signature of the McIntire workshop.

The pair in the collection of Robbins Hunter Museum are made of a fine mahogany, with a serpentine front and reeded legs below carved foliage.  The snowflake stamping on the apron area of the legs as well as the central basket of fruit are signatures of Samuel McIntire. According to the museum’s records, the pair of tables were found by Robbins Hunter in Richland County, Ohio.

Basket of fruit and flowers, another signature of the McIntire workshop.

For many years, one of the tables was in serious need of restoration as the hinging mechanism that connected the top had broken out and was partially lost.  During the winter of 2017, the table was “admitted to surgery” at a fine repair shop.  The “furniture doctor” completed a masterful restoration and the table has returned to its place in the Ladies’ Parlor, looking fit and ready for another 200 years.

Hunter was successful in tracking down many pairs of card tables, a form of which he was particularly fond.  Card tables are generally small (30-36” square) with a folding leaf that opens with a swing leg support.  In the nineteenth century, fine homes would have had several pairs to use for actually playing cards, intimate suppers, Hunter collected the form, in addition to his interest in mirrors, lighting, and clocks.

McIntire Table: One of a pair of mahogany card tables attributed to Samuel McIntire. Collection of Robbins Hunter Museum.

On your next visit to the museum, be sure to take notice of these two proud pieces of furniture from one of America’s finest cabinet shops.

From My Desk...

Looking back…

2016 was a record breaking year for the Robbins Hunter Museum in many respects:

·         We dedicated the Dale and Tina Knobel Folly, a major capital project.

·         The Candlelight Walk brought more than 4,500 visitors.

·         For the first time, we kept the doors open during the last week of December allowing many more visitors to enjoy the magnificent tree exhibition.

Be sure to read the full report in this issue of how 2016 rolled to a close. The results are fascinating!

Looking forward…

After closing for the season on December 30, we have been scurrying around preparing for an even more memorable year. 2017 marks the 175th anniversary of the completion of the Avery-Downer House.  We will be celebrating with some spectacular newsletter features beginning in this issue, special events, and exhibits.  You will not want to miss these:

·         Opening exhibit will be The Mark Twain Nobody Knows: Reading between the Lines, with a curator talk by Dr. Thomas Wortham on April 6 and a book discussion of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn on May 3.

·         The addition of “Treasures of the Collection” is a not-to-be-missed exhibition on the second floor, open all season.

·         Granville Garden Day, June 17, will open five private gardens for tours, a Garden Club of America sanctioned flower show in the museum, and a vendor fair in the Jill Griesse Gardens.

·         An art show is in the planning stages for October 7 to coincide with Big Red Weekend at Denison.

·         Once again in October the students at Welsh Hill School will create an invasion of scarecrows, all characters from Mark Twain stories this year.

·         And Christmas will be as festive as ever with the twinkling lights and display of trees.

From the collection...

“Woove at Newark Ohio 1840”

One of Robbins Hunter’s prize possessions was only one-half of an original object.  It was half of a red, white and blue jacquard coverlet with a corner block reading “Woove (sic) at Newark Ohio 1840.”  Hunter was an avid collector of early Ohio and especially anything from Licking County.  After all, his gravestone reads “I loved Licking County.”

This type of coverlet is named for Joseph Marie Jacquard, a Frenchman who invented the loom on which it was possible to weave these intricate designs.  The loom used a “punch card” and today many refer to his loom as the first computer.

The field of the coverlet is an overall floral design.  The border depicts city buildings including a church, a courthouse, and houses.  This bed cover would have originally consisted of two pieces, each about 40 inches wide, which were sewn together to make the cover wide enough to fit a bed.  Corner blocks on the bottom right and left display the historical inscription. As time moved on and the coverlets were replaced in style with quilts and eventually chenille bedspreads, the old jacquards with their history marking corner blocks became family heirlooms.  In many families, the coverlet was taken apart with one half given to one heir and the other half to a different heir.  So Hunter was not surprised that he only was able to purchase one half.

Then the unexpected happened.  One day a letter arrived in the mail from San Jose, California.  The writer enclosed a photo of one half of a coverlet, with the corner block “Woove at Newark Ohio 1840.”  Knowing that Hunter was an antique dealer, she wondered if he would be interested in purchasing her half.  Imagine his great delight, even amazement! 

Today, you may visit the museum’s “Treasures of the Collection” exhibit and see first hand, this miracle of miracles.

From My Desk...

Fall has been as colorful at the Robbins Hunter Museum as the glorious display of autumn color was on Village trees and the surrounding countryside. Giant spiders and pumpkins invited visitors inside to see the incredible collection of Halloween ephemera belonging to George and Jeanne Johnson of Logan, Ohio.

Vintage Halloween costumes and jack-0-lanterns attracted record crowds at the museum during October.

  Mid-month, sixteen scarecrows invaded the garden, each made by a student at Welsh Hills School depicting a president or first lady. In addition to Halloween, Victoria Woodhull is prompting much interest as we get closer to election day.  Talks by Jeff Gill and Sarah Wallace, the 2016 Victoria Woodhull Woman of Achievement recipient, drew enthusiastic crowds.  A full page article in USA Today about Woodhull was reprinted on the front page of the Newark Advocate.  One man came to see the exhibit with his copy of USA Today in hand!

Between now and the end of the year, focus will shift to the exhibit, Glorious Christmas.  Thousands of white lights will illuminate the house and this year we will add lights to the Knobel Folly.  Our members are invited to view the bedecked mansion at our annual Christmas Gala on November 12.  Gingerbread Houses as well as Santa and Mrs. Claus will be featured at the Candlelight Walking Tour on December 3.  This year for the first time, we will be open on Thursday evenings in December for “Nights Before Christmas,” an intimate evening in the candlelit house, by reservation.  We have also added open hours for the last week in December.

In January, the Board of Trustees will hold a full-day retreat to examine our strategic plan, scheduled for completion next year.  The coming year will also mark the announced completion of the Jill Griesse Historic Garden as well as the 175th anniversary of the Avery-Downer House.  So we look forward to another year with many possibilities for celebration, with plans for exciting, enlightening, educational events.  

From the collection...

Sometime in early July, the phone in the office rang and the caller said he and his wife had purchased a piano at the auction of Robbins Hunter’s antiques in 1980.  The auction was held to raise money to restore the building for use as a museum.  They had kept the piano all these years in their home in Baltimore, Ohio, but were downsizing and moving to Maine.  A nineteenth century upright grand piano did not make the list of items to include in the move.  Would the museum like to have it back?

After some research about Broadwood pianos as well as the story of the 1980 auction, the collection committee agreed that indeed we are thrilled to make room for its return to Granville.

Label for Broadway and Sons

The piano bears the label of John Broadwood and Sons/Maker to His Majesty and the Princesses/Great Pultney St./Golden Square/London.  It is made of mahogany with Empire style legs and trim. The upright front is covered in red velvet.  But the really interesting part is the importance of the Broadwood  Company in the history of musical instruments.  Started by Burkat Studi, the company, since 1740, has made instruments for every British monarch.  In 1729, they made an instrument for Handel.  And in 1740, Studi made an instrument for Frederick, Prince of Wales (now in Kew Palace).  Twenty-five years later, nine year old Mozart, visiting London, played a Studi piano.  In the 1770’s John Broadwood married Studi’s youngest daughter and the name changed.  During that time, Broadwood supplied pianos to painters Reynolds and Gainsborough and to Josef Hayden in Vienna.  The company was exporting to Russia, Denmark, Portugal, Italy, France, West Indies, and America (where its agent was John Jacob Astor).  In 1785, records show that Thomas Jefferson visited Broadwood to discuss musical instruments.  In 1796, a grand was made as a present for the Queen of Spain with a case designed by Thomas Sheraton with Wedgewood medallions (now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts).  An upright grand style was introduced in 1795 and two were sold to the wives of Nelson and Wellington.  After the Napoleonic wars, in 1817, Thomas Broadwood toured Europe and visited Beethoven in Vienna.  The next year, he sent the composer a six octave grand which is now in the National Museum of Hungary, Budapest.  It was later owned by Liszt.

In 1840, Queen Victoria married Prince Albert, who brought a Broadwood piano to Buckingham Palace where the young couple made music with Mendelssohn.  By 1842, 2500 pianos a year were being produced at the Broadwood Company, one of twelve largest employers of labor in London. 

In 1848 Chopin was provided with three Broadwood instruments for his British tour:  one for his lodging, one for his London concerts, and one for his Scottish concerts. 

At the Paris exhibition in 1867, Emperor Napoleon presented a Gold Medal to Henry Broadwood.  In 1981,  one of their pianos was accepted as a wedding gift by the Prince and Princess of Wales for Kensington Palace.  Production continues today.

The Broadwood now back in the collection of Robbins Hunter Museum is installed in the Hunter room, just opposite Hunter’s portrait.  He appears to be once again watching over it.  We do not know of anyone famous or royal who ever played this instrument.  In fact, we do not have a record of how it came into Hunter’s possession.

Full view of the piano. Note Empire style legs and trim.

We are so grateful for the generosity of Barbara and Richard Sellers, who not only donated this fine instrument, but made arrangements and paid for piano delivery specialists to place it in the museum.

Be sure to ask to see it the next time you visit the Robbins Hunter Museum.

Edward Mott Downer and the Electoral College

EDITOR’S NOTE:  Jean McDaniel, former director of the museum, uncovered a bit of history about Edward Mott Downer, namesake of the Avery-Downer House, when she took a look at the Electoral College in 2004. Following are excerpts from an article she wrote in 2004 of the day Downer cast his electoral vote for William McKinley, who won the hotly contested national election for president in 1896, running against William Jennings Bryan.

“The day of the electoral vote, Edward Downer probably boarded a train for Columbus at the T & OC Stations where the Parker Realty is today, or at the long gone Union Station at Kylesburg just south of Granville. Arriving at Union Station in Columbus, he would have hired a hack (horse and buggy cab) to take him to the Statehouse.

There he would have met the other 22 electors – all party faithfuls. I am sure they lunched together as did the GOP Electors of 2004, probably in the dining room of the Neil House right across from the State Capitol. The Neil House was also the home of Governor McKinley and his wife during his term of office.

Granville’s Bicentennial history honors Edward Mott Downer (1826-1914) who stepped forward to fulfill a citizen’s role in the United States of America’s free election process which followed the same format that was implemented in 1804 and has not changed to this day.”